Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Mandevilla sanderi cultivar Monproud.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mandevilla plant, botanically known as Mandevilla sanderi, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Monproudxe2x80x99.
The new Mandevilla is a naturally-occurring branch mutation of the Mandevilla sanderi cultivar Red Riding Hood, not patented. The new Mandevilla was discovered and selected by the Inventor in August, 1999 in a controlled environment in Azusa, Calif., from within a population of plants of the cultivar Red Riding Hood.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by tissue culture in a laboratory in Azusa, Calif., since September, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Mandevilla are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Monproud have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Monproudxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Monproudxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Mandevilla:
1. Vining plant habit.
2. Compact growth habit, short internodes.
3. Variegated leaves; developing foliage, red and green; fully expanded foliage, pale yellow, green and grayed green.
4. Red purple-colored flowers with yellow-colored throats.
Plants of the new Mandevilla are most similar to plants of the parent, the cultivar Red Riding Hood. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Azusa, Calif., plants of the new cultivar differed from plants of the cultivar Red Riding Hood in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Mandevilla were more compact with shorter internodes than plants of the cultivar Red Riding Hood.
2. Leaves of plants of the new Mandevilla were variegated whereas leaves of plants of the cultivar Red Riding Hood were solid green in color.